Individuals often have items which they no longer want. The items include new items and used items which are in good enough condition that they do not need to be thrown away. Other individuals may be motivated to purchase such items because they are in good condition or because they can be purchased at a price which may be substantially less than that which would be paid for the same item purchased from a storefront or online retailer.
With the advent of network systems, such as the Internet, various forums have been developed that facilitate exchanges between buyers and sellers of miscellaneous new and second-hand items. For example, on-line third-party marketplace sites have been developed in which a plurality of sellers may make items available in an on-line sales format to buyers, and buyers are allowed to place bids on the items being sold.
With the on-line third party marketplace site, third party sellers are presented with an opportunity to submit offers for items that they wish to offer for sale. Each seller may further select a price at which they want to offer for sale. Each offer may further be associated with a plurality of sales conditions and item conditions that describe both the item and the type of transaction offered by the seller.
Buyers desiring to make a purchase may be presented with a search interface when they first come to the third-party sales site. The buyer searches for the item they wish to purchase and is presented with a plurality of offers from the third-party sellers that have submitted offers for that particular item. The offers may differ according to the prices that are offered by the seller as well as the various conditions that were selected by the seller. The buyer may select a sort criterion, such as a price, to sort the offers such that the “best” offers, according to the search criteria, are presented in a first listing of five offers on a first page, while less conforming offers are present in second, third, etc. listings on subsequent pages.
Buyer are often more likely to purchase an item from among the offers listed on earlier pages of listings than from among the offers listed on later pages of listings. Accordingly, some sellers may try to occupy as much space as possible on the first page of listings creating multiple offers for an item that are configured a variety of different ways. A seller may submit a first offer for the item having a low price, a second offer having a slightly higher price, a third offer having the same low price but a slightly different condition or sub-condition, etc., even where the seller is only selling a single item. Such practices detract from the buying experience of the buyer because it is more difficult for the buyer to find different competing offers from different sellers.
An ongoing need exists for systems and methods that facilitate management of a listing of offers to promote displaying items from multiple different third party sellers. It should be noted that, while certain advantages and features are described, the teachings herein may be used to implement systems and methods that do not have any of the advantages and features, but rather which have other advantages and features.